Eyewitness News sat down with some of those placed in detention centers and analyzed arrest and deportation data for the president's first year in office and found law enforcement action has increased dramatically.
"It's a lot worse than what I thought it was going to be," said Veronica Cardenas, a former ICE prosecutor turned immigration attorney.
Cardenas says that today, enforcement is happening much closer to home.
"We're seeing a lot more enforcement action in our backyards," she said. "We're seeing ICE standing at the Home Depot picking up anyone who comes out."
Cardenas says that more of her clients are being detained during scheduled government appointments and check-ins, not during raids or federal law enforcement operations.
We sat down with a man on the verge of self-deportation. He asked that we protect his identity, for fear of retaliation. We will refer to him as Christian. He was detained in Delany Hall for almost two months.
Speaking in Spanish, he said he feels he's in danger.
"I do feel I'm in danger in regard to ICE, because I don't know when that day comes that they'll detain me again," he said.
Christian says he's been working his way through the asylum process since he moved from the Dominican Republic, three years ago.
After moving from one apartment to another, he went to report his new address to immigration officials. He says they detained him on the spot.
"I'm not a criminal," he said.
His attorney helped get him released but he is now facing deportation to a country he's never been to, much less heard of, Honduras.
"The New York judge, without a hearing, just ordered him to be removed to a third country," Cardenas said.
"But at this point, he is defeated and he said he may just take his chances in his home country," she said.
Eyewitness News also spoke to a married couple who said they feel like there's a target on their backs. The wife is a United States citizen, her husband is not.
"There's a target, yes," she said.
They also asked Eyewitness News to protect their identity. We will refer to them as David and Andrea.
David was also detained, after a scheduled appointment with ICE. We asked him what it was like to be in detention, also in Delany Hall.
"Terrible. I felt very bad because I'm not a delinquent," he said. "I didn't commit any crimes and I didn't even miss any immigration appointments."
David is now fighting an expedited removal back to his home country of Peru and the possibility of being separated from his wife.
Both David and Christian now wear ankle monitors.
Cardenas believes the harsh conditions while in detention are intentional.
"That's the quickest way to get people to voluntarily leave when they're detained," she said.
During President Donald Trump's first 10 months in office of this term, immigration data by the Deportation Data Project shows that 12,103 non-citizens have been arrested in the Tri-State.
The year before, that number was 6,526 non-citizens arrested.
Additionally, in those same10 months of the Trump administration, there were 8,530 removals or deportations. That's more than quadruple the amount than the year before, at 1,882.
The president said during his year in review press conference that his focus is on arresting criminals.
"We have a lot of heart for people that came in illegally. They're good people and working now on farms and luncheonettes and hotels. We're not looking there. We're looking to get the criminals out right now," he said.
While arrests and removals are up, so are the amount of people being approved to become naturalized citizens in some areas.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in the first two quarters after becoming president, the most recent data available shows the amount of approved naturalized citizens went down by 8% in New Jersey but it increased by 11% in New York and increased 21% in Connecticut.
Cardenas says these numbers show a positive trend.
"A lot more people understand now that they need their citizenship for protection and at the same time, this administration has moved forward with those applications a lot quicker than previous administrations," she said.
However, she feels there is also one caveat.
"It depends on what country you're from," she said.
As an example, Cardenas says applications by people from Afghanistan are getting much more scrutiny since a member of the National Guard was shot by an Afghan national in Washington D.C., last November.
"When they apply for naturalization, those are being paused indefinitely," Cardenas said.
Eyewitness News reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment for a response to this reporting. The agency did not respond.
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